Keyboard Shortcuts for Visual Studio Code Editor in Mac

Apple supplies TextEdit app as a default text editor in MacBook. Unlike Notepad app in Windows, you can use TextEdit app to process both plain as well as rich text content. For example, you can bold the text in TextEdit app while you can’t do that with Notepad in Windows. However, editing source code like HTML, CSS, JavaScript or PHP needs much more features than plain or rich text processing. You need the syntax to be highlighted in different colors and show the opening / closing tags properly. Visual Studio Code (VSC) is the most popular code editor from Microsoft that you can use in Mac. Here is a complete list of keyboard shortcuts for Visual Studio Code editor in Mac to get things done quickly.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Visual Studio Code Editor in Mac

When using code editors like VSC, you may need to carry out certain activities frequently. For example, you may need to move a line or code block to different section in your document. It will be a tedious and error prone task to cut the code, scroll to the required place and then paste it. The best option is to use option key with up or down arrow keys and move the selected code to the required position up or down. Remember, you can move the code by navigating to “Selection > Move Line Up or Down” menus. However, it will be supper annoying to use the menu each time when you have to move the code hundreds of lines away from the current line.

Similarly, going to “Edit > Replace in Files” will open search function in the sidebar. This may be useful for finding and replacing a string in multiple files. However, you can open find and replace function within a file using “Command + Option + F” keyboard shortcuts.

Therefore, learning simple keyboard shortcuts for Visual Studio Code app can help you to improve your productivity.

VSC Mac Shortcut	What it does?
Command + C	Copy the selected line into clipboard
Command + X	Cut the selected line into clipboard
Command + Enter	Create a new line (similar to pressing enter key)
Commnd + /	Comment or uncomment the current line where the cursor is positioned
Fn + Up Arrow	Go to one page up
Fn + Down Arrow	Go to one page down
Command + Up Arrow	Take you to start of the file
Command + down Arrow	Take you to end of the file
Command + ]	Indent the content of a line
Command + [	Outdent the content of a line
Command + Shift + K	Delete the current line
Command + Shift + Enter	Insert a line above the current line
Command + Shift + \	Move to corresponding matching bracket
Option + Shift + A	Insert a block comment, you can toggle inserting and deleting by pressing the same shortcut keys
Option + Z	Enable or disable word wrap
Command + Option + [	Fold the current matching tags
Command + Option + ]	Open or unfold the current matching tags
Option + Up Arrow	Move the content of current line up
Option + Down Arrow	Move the content of current line down
Command + B	Toggle sidebar on or off
Command + =	Zoom in the window
Command + –	Zoom out the window
Command + Shift + D	View and run debug
Command + Shift + E	Show explorer sidebar
Command + Shift + F	Show search box
Command + Shift + H	Show search and replace option
Command + Shift + J	Toggle files to include / exclude in search
Command + Shift + U	Toggle output panel
Command + Shift + X	Show extensions marketplace
Command + Control + F	Toggle full screen mode on or off
Control + Shift + G	View source coontrol
Command + 1 to 9	Open and focus the corresponding editor section
Command + 0	Open and focus on the sidebar control
Command + W	Close current file editor
Command + Shift + W	Close current instance of window
Command + \	Split editor, press repeatedly to continue creating new split editor area
Command + N	Open new empty file
Command + O	Browser and open file from your computer
Command + S	Save current file
Command + Shift + S	Save as a file
Command + Shift + T	Reopen previously close editor window
Control + Tab	Toggle across editor windows to move next
Command + Option + S	Save all files open in editors
Control + Shift + Tab	Toggle across editor windows to move previous
Command + K	Enable keyboard shortcut sequence
Command + P	Go to a file by searching the name
Command + ,	Open settings section
Command + Shift + N	Open new instance of Visual Studio Code editor in new window
Command + Shift + P	Open complete command list (Command Palette)
Command + V	Paste copied content
Command + U	Move to previous cursor position
Command + Shift + L	Select all occurances of selected content, you can cut to remove all occurance at once
Command + Shift + M	Toggle Problems panel
Control + G	Go to an entered line
Control + –	Move in backward direction
Control + Shift + –	Move in forward direction
Command + F	Open Find box
Command + G	Find the next instance of the selection
Command + Shift + G	Find the previous instance of the selection
Command + Option + F	Open Find and Replace box
Control + `	Open Terminal panel
Control + Shift + `	Open new Terminal panel
Command + Control + Shift + Right Arrow	Expand selection
Command + Control + Shift + Right Arrow	Shrink selection
Command + Shift + Y	Open debug console
Option + Shift + Up Arrow	Copy the current line and insert above
Option + Shift + Down Arrow	Copy the current line and insert below
Command + Control + Up Arrow	Insert cursor in above line
Command + Control + Down Arrow	Insert cursor in below line
Command + Z	Undo previous action
Command + Shift + Z	Redo previous action
Fn Fn	Start dictation
Command + Control + Shift	Open Character Viewer app to insert emoji & symbols
Command + H	Hide Visual Studio Code app
Command + Option + H	Hide all other apps
Command + Q	Quit Visual Studio Code app

Keyboard Shortcuts in PDF

Microsoft also offers a keyboard shortcuts document in PDF format for VSC Mac version. You can go to “Help > Keyboard Shortcuts Reference” menu or press “Command + K” and then “Command + R” shortcut keys. This will open the Visual Studio Code website in your default browser showing the PDF file. You can download or print the file for offline use. Alternatively, click on the below download button to get the VSC keyboard shortcuts for Mac in PDF format.